At the tap (photo: Governor's Office)
These days, safety is at the forefront of the consciousness of most New Yorkers. With New Year's Eve just around the corner – and the binge drinking that comes with it – alcohol-fueled accidents, crashes, injuries, and crime are an unfortunate inevitability.
The bars and liquor stores that serve hard-partying New Yorkers need to recognize that there are serious responsibilities that come with their liquor licenses. In fact, their professionalism can mean the difference between life and death.
I previously served as the Chair of the Public Safety Committee for Brooklyn’s Community Board 9 for three years. During those years, I found that most liquor licensees that came before us were unaware that it is illegal to sell alcohol to "any habitual drunkard" or anyone visibly drunk. Through numerous conversations with local law enforcement, I discovered the extent to which booze-powered incidents, accidents, and crime could be averted if these businesses would comply with the law.
For the most part, the fact that harm caused by an intoxicated customer — even in another location, hours later — could come back to haunt a vendor, was either unknown or ignored.
Liquor licensees can protect themselves and their customers with Alcohol Server Training, a course, usually a couple hours, that educates vendors on the responsibilities and liabilities associated with serving alcohol.
Alcohol server training is critical for preventing underage drinking, reducing the risk of alcohol-related traffic crashes and other incidents, and preventing crime. It teaches servers to recognize when a patron has had too much to drink and to take appropriate action to protect themselves and their establishment from potential legal liability. By providing their employees with alcohol server training, businesses protect their customers from harm, and themselves from the potential legal and financial consequences.
We looked at the statistics from the Mid Hudson Prevention Resource Center, which provides training and found that after taking the training nearly 100% of trainees responded on their questionnaire that the training should be mandatory. And why wouldn't they? Those few hours of training are a nearly effortless step in protecting individuals and businesses from liability and reducing some of the estimated 6,700 alcohol-related deaths New York suffers each year — but it’s not required in New York State.
As director of Operation Survival, a substance abuse prevention program, I joined a coalition of nonprofits that met with the State Liquor Authority to find out why this easy, low-cost preventive measure isn’t required in New York (as it is in other states like California) and discovered that mandating Alcohol Server Training would require state-level legislation. Until state government in Albany acts to make this training mandatory, Operation Survival is launching an awareness campaign, creating a variety of educational media and videos targeting liquor-serving businesses on the importance of Alcohol Server Training.
Every industry has standards and certifications it requires of its practitioners to guarantee professionalism and quality. It simply doesn't make sense to have lower expectations of liquor licensees. Alcohol Server Training is a no-brainer for any responsible bar, restaurant, or liquor store and should be required by the State of New York.
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Rabbi Yaacov Behrman is the director of Operation Survival, the founder of the Jewish Future Alliance, and a Chabad liaison. On Twitter @ChabadLubavitch.
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Rooftop solar (photo: Governor's Office)
It’s beyond dispute that the fossil fuel industry has perpetrated a multi-decade misinformation campaign that has led some policymakers, the media, and much of public opinion down a rabbit hole of climate denial. Now they’ve got their sights on New York State’s climate legislation and initiatives.
The cynically dubbed front group “New Yorkers for Affordable Energy” has paid for attack ads against several key bills moving through the State Legislature, including the All-Electric Heat in New Construction bill, which would mandate electric heat in new buildings starting later this decade, and the Gas Transition and Affordable Energy bill, which would end customer subsidies for gas industry expansion and create cost protections for low- and moderate-income households.
The New Yorkers for Affordable Energy website describes the group as “dedicated to supporting access to cleaner, reliable and affordable sources of energy for residential and business consumers.” However, in a filing with the Internal Revenue Service, the group describes its purpose as “to expand natural gas service [and] keep energy prices lower for consumers.”
In the last six months, New Yorkers for Affordable Energy has released ads with misinformation that tell homeowners that retrofitting their homes would cost more than $20,000 and electric heating would cost 40% more than gas. The All-Electric bill creates a mandate for new construction only, not for existing buildings. Recent studies, like one by Win Climate, show that electric heat is cheaper than heat produced by propane, gas furnaces, or gas boilers in new homes. New Yorkers for Affordable Energy’s messaging stokes fear among consumers of higher energy bills, which is especially effective because of inflation and rising energy prices.
A recent investigation by Little Sis found that ten fossil fuel companies and lobbying groups have spent more than $15.5 million on lobbying since 2016 and more than $1.4 million on campaign donations opposing climate action in New York. The American Petroleum Institute, an architect of climate denial, is on the steering committee of New Yorkers for Affordable Energy. Other New Yorkers for Affordable Energy members include utilities like National Grid, National Fuel Gas, and Central Hudson, as well as power plant lobbyists the Independent Power Producers of New York.
Besides opposing the previously mentioned bills this legislative session, New Yorkers for Affordable Energy and its partners have also been working to thwart New York’s efforts to advance its vision for a clean energy future, pursuant to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), New York’s nation-leading climate law passed in 2019. That law requires, among other mandates, that New York reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050; and have a zero-carbon power sector by 2040.
The ads released by New Yorkers for Affordable Energy are part of a larger disinformation campaign targeted at New Yorkers. For example, home fuel retailers have sent emails to their customers attacking electric heating and the CLCPA. Utility provider Central Hudson published explicit concerns regarding New York’s proposed plan for implementing the CLCPA, stating it would “significantly raise costs" and "potentially jeopardize grid integrity." And opinion pieces opposing the state’s climate plan have popped up in the Times Union, Crain’s NY Business, Newsday, NY Daily News, and Utility Dive – that spread misinformation about higher bills, job loss, and increased outages.
A range of essential state actions over the next several years — financed by a mix of ratepayer, state, and federal funds, along with sufficient subsidies and tax breaks — would make the transition feasible for consumers in existing buildings. Accordingly, Governor Hochul has already announced the creation of a dedicated green electrification fund to electrify low-income homes and advance the state's goals of creating green affordable housing.
New York State must transform its power, transportation, and building sectors to meet the goals of its landmark climate law. These actions will improve air quality, protect public health, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate climate change. New York cannot allow the oil and gas industry, under the guise of front-groups, to undermine efforts and investments that address climate change.
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Richard Schrader is the New York Legislative and Policy Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and Isabel Friedman is Program Coordinator for the Natural Resources Defense Council. On Twitter @NRDCNY_Rich & @NRDC.
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New Yorkers have a lot to say (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)
Gotham Gazette publishes a wide range of guest op-ed columns by a diverse set of voices. Below are the 20 most-read op-eds published by Gotham Gazette in 2022.
Please note that the opinions expressed in these and other guest columns are those of the authors alone and not of Gotham Gazette, any of its staff, publisher, or partners. [Find the latest in the Opinion section here. Have a submission? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]
1. New York Prisons Cut Crucial Lifeline to Incarcerated Individuals and Families Through Arbitrary Package Policy - by David Weprin & Julia Salazar
2. Tenants are Struggling; New York Needs Good Cause Eviction Now - by Julia Salazar & Jose Lopez
3. Who is NYC Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser and Will He Deliver What’s Desperately Needed? - by Devin Balkind
4. Mayor Adams, If NYC Schools are ‘Segregated Intentionally,’ Why Increase Segregation with More Admissions Screening? - by Christopher Bonastia
5. New York’s Housing Crisis is Worse Than Ever; It’s Time to Send in the Cavalry - by Jolie Milstein
6. How the Next Phase of the Second Avenue Subway Can Build a Better East Harlem - by Nicholas Dagen Bloom
7. Better Managing Public Space is Key to New York City’s Recovery - by Elizabeth Goldstein, Benjamin Prosky & Jackson Chabot
8. Who’s To Blame for Our NYC Teacher Health Care Debacle? - by Arthur Goldstein
9. Don't Believe the Hype; Bail Reform is Good Policy and Good Politics - by Jason Ortiz
10. Democrats Must Deliver for Asian-American Voters or Risk Losing More of Them - by Grace Lee & Trip Yang
11. Crypto-Mining is Gobbling Up New York's Precious Renewable Energy - by Charles Komanoff
12. It’s Time to Deliver Our Neighborhoods from Illegal Commercial Truck Parking - by Linda Lee, Nantasha Williams & Selvena Brooks-Powers
13. I Had A No-Cost Childbirth, Other New York Moms Should Be Able To Do The Same - by Shaunte Turner
14. Latinos, Hochul, and the 2022 Election for New York Governor - by Eli Valentin
15. How Our Parks Can Save Our City - by Shekar Krishnan
16. How ‘Gifted and Talented’ Shows the Failures of One Man Rule of Our Schools - by NeQuan McLean
17. We Don’t Need a ‘Plan B,’ Mayor Adams; New York City Needs You to Shut Rikers Down - by Yonah Zeitz
18. New York Must Brace for a Recession; Where Things Stand and What Comes Next - by Jim Brennan
19. The MTA Must Fix Its Defective Assessment of Congestion Pricing - by Charles Komanoff
20. New York Universities, It’s Time to Tear Down That Wall - by Brian Martindale
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